Teen shot dead by CISF officer worked 11 hours a day at grocery store after father was paralysed

A few bystanders witnessed the boy being slapped a few times by a man from the wedding procession. “His friend later told us that Saahil asked the man what his fault was. The man got so angry that the boy talked back to him that he pulled out a gun and shot him in the head,” said Alam. Saahil later succumbed to the injuries.

Police on Monday arrested the accused, a CISF officer, for killing the 14-year-old boy.

He was taken into custody on Sunday for questioning, said police. “Following the questioning, we understood that he had some mental health issues…he had trouble keeping his anger at bay,” said a senior officer privy to the investigation. The man was the groom’s paternal cousin, said police.

Hardly five minutes after Saahil was shot, people rushed to the boy’s house and informed his family what had happened.

He was rushed to Hedgewar Hospital but was declared dead on arrival. The boy’s mother, Nisha, mourned that her son’s only fault was trying to make his family’s life easier. “He was coming home after work… he was just lured by the currency notes and the celebrations,” she said. The notes the boy collected were fake, according to his family.

Saahil’s father had suffered a paralytic attack a few months ago, said his family, causing his left arm to be paralysed.

“I worked in a gas cylinder warehouse but after this I could not work as much anymore. So Saahil was taken out from school and put to work,” said Sirajuddin Ansari, the boy’s father.

Saahil earned Rs 6,000 per month for an 11-hour-long shift everyday in a local grocery store.

He is survived by three brothers and three sisters. “He would tell us that he would grow up and give us a better life. He began working at such a young age because he saw how his father was suffering,” said Nisha.